Demystifying the impact of self-indulgence and self-control on customer-employee rapport and customer happiness

Past research mostly ignores the link between customers' purchase orientations and their engagement with frontline service employees. This paper addresses this gap by using socio-emotional selectivity theory to investigate the effects of customers’ self-indulgence/control on their rapport building efforts with frontline service employees and on their own happiness. It also explores the moderating effects of age, gender and shopping day on the impact of self-indulgence/control on happiness. Data from 252 Australian customers shows that self-control has no significant influence on rapport or happiness while rapport and self-indulgence positively affect happiness. Finally, all the moderating effects only find partial support.     

Exploring phygital omnichannel luxury retailing for immersive customer experience: The role of rapport and social engagement

Omnichannel retailing has revolutionized the way retailers create strategies for engaging customers in making purchase decisions. Phygital is a new-age transformative form of omnichannel retailing that emphasizes combining the physical and digital elements, with a particular focus on the human touch to satisfy social and symbolic consumer needs. Extant research has not fully addressed the role of phygital in luxury fashion retail. We explore the research question regarding how human interactions with experienced salespeople add value to the phygital experience. In doing so, we contribute to the luxury marketing literature by addressing the research gap by elucidating the role of phygital functionality in enhancing rapport building, social engagement, and developing trust and commitment, which results in a seamless customer experience, along with enhanced loyalty and patronage. Through 18 in-depth qualitative research interviews conducted with luxury retail managers and senior retail leaders, we provide guidelines to managers and practitioners at retail firms, to create actionable growth-oriented strategies focused on leveraging phygital capabilities.     

Interpreting DNA Evidence: A Review

The paper provides a review of current issues relating to the use of DNA profiling in forensic science. A short historical section gives the main statistical milestones that occurred during a rapid development of DNA technology and operational uses. Greater detail is then provided for interpretation issues involving STR DNA profiles, including:

• – methods that take account of population substructure in DNA calculations;

• – parallel work carried out by the US National Research Council;

• – the move away from multiple independence testing in favour of experiments that demonstrate the robustness of casework procedures;

• – the questionable practice of source attribution 'with reasonable scientific certainty';

• – the effect on the interpretation of profiles obtained under increasingly sensitive techniques, the LCN technique in particular;

• – the use of DNA profiles as an intelligence tool;

• – the interpretation of DNA mixtures.

Experience of presenting DNA evidence within UK courts is also discussed. The paper then summarises a generic interpretation framework based on the concept of likelihood ratio within a hierarchy of propositions. Finally the use of Bayesian networks to interpret DNA evidence is reviewed.     

年龄异质性、权力差距对双元创新绩效的影响：融洽程度的调节作用

利用层次回归法,以108家计算机上市公司为研究对象,探讨了年龄异质性、权力差距对双元创新绩效的影响,以及融洽程度在这一关系中的调节作用。实证结果表明：董事长与总经理之间年龄异质性、权力差距与双元创新绩效呈倒U型曲线关系。同时,这种倒U型曲线关系受到融洽程度的调节作用,董事长与总经理的融洽程度越高,年龄异质性、权力差距对双元创新绩效的倒U形影响越小。研究结论对如何构建高技术上市公司核心高管团队、提升双元创新绩效具有一定启示作用。     

Speaking up against service unfairness: The role of negative meta-perceptions

Taking into account customers’ rapport with a service staff and levels of service unfairness, this paper aims to examine the role of negative meta-perceptions in predicting customers’ intention to directly speak up to the service staff following an unfair service treatment. The results show that negative meta-perceptions mediate the indirect effect of levels of rapport and service unfairness on speaking up directly to the service staff. The study offers a new explanation on why customers are hesitant to confront the service staff directly owing to negative meta-perceptions that they develop during service encounters.     

The joint effect of flirting and emotional labor on customer service-related outcomes

The current studies examined why hospitality employees flirt with customers, and the interaction between flirting and authentic or faked emotional displays. In Study 1, 245 restaurant servers reported their flirting motivations, emotional labor strategy, and perceived rapport. Flirting motivations had a positive effect on rapport when servers engaged in either surface acting or deep acting but not when servers engaged less in emotional labor strategies. In Study 2, 130 servers reported their flirting displays, emotional labor strategies and tip sizes. Flirting displays only increased tips when deep acting was involved. The theoretical and practical implications of flirting are discussed.